Draw to help I Did It Again relax in Blue Sapphire

Brad Waters - Tuesday October 17

Greg Eurell says a different draw should produce a more favourable scenario for I Did It Again in Wednesday's Group III Blue Sapphire Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.

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I Did It Again (red & white stripes) duels with Bandipur (royal blue) at Caulfield last month. Photo: Darryl Sherer

I Did It Again showed great promise in his debut win at Caulfield in July before little went right for the son of Nicconi when he was narrowly beaten first-up at Caulfield on September 23.

I Did It Again was left without cover from the outside gate while jockey Nikita Beriman dropped her whip in the straight before the three-year-old went down to Bandipur at his last start.

The gelding jumped form barrier nine in a 10-horse field last time out but he will jump from barrier three in Wednesday's $350,000 contest, a gate Eurell said should help I Did It Again settle better than he did first-up.

"If he doesn't draw a gate, he was always going to find it inviting to grab the bridle and roll forward and that's what he did last start and it just made it difficult," Eurell said.

"I'm really happy with the barrier draw and it sort of gives us some opportunity for something to roll forward and he take a sit behind them and see what he can do from there.

"Tomorrow, if he can get that little smother, I'd say that would be ideal.

"He's still pretty keen at the moment. He's not silly by any means but he's just one of those horses that wants to run and he's competitive so he heads into it pretty fresh tomorrow."

Eurell said I Did It Again handled his first-up run well but the Cranbourne trainer and the sprinter's new jockey Damien Oliver agree the 2017 edition of the Blue Sapphire Stakes features a strong field.

"He's a really promising horse, he probably didn't have everything go his way the other day," Oliver said.

"He's shown he is worthy of a crack at a race like that, although it seems to have come up a pretty strong edition this year.''

Sportsbet has I Did It Again as a $5.50 chance in Blue Sapphire betting behind the well-backed Jukebox, who has been supported from $4.80 to join Formality as a $4 equal favourite.

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